Not Another Story With A Daughter of Sirius Black!
by Jackie Onassis
Summary: Teresa Black, the daughter of the so called evil Sirius Black. She's been doing her best to protect Harry for two years, but when her dad finally spots Peter Pettigrew in the Daily Prophet, it's up to her to keep her dad and Harry safe from certain death.
1. One Last Visit

**A/N: alright, this is a story I have been working on since the first harry potter book came out, granted the stories sucked then but they have gotten better. And trust me, don't let the title fool you! I promise this will be good! At least it had better, I've rewritten it like a million times!**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT OWN HARRY POTTER IN ANY WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM! I do NOT own any of it's characters except for the two of my own invention!**

I walked toward the entrance to Azkaban, ignorning the loud screaming echoing through my ears as the dementors came up alongside me, blocking the entrance.

"I'm here to see Sirius Black." I stated plainly as one of the guards came up.

He didn't say anything but rather gestured for the dementors to move aside. I followed the man past several cells, where some of the prisoners came forward and laughed at me, as if I was being locked up with them. Finally the man stopped in front of a cell and left me alone, most likely to remove himself from the presence of the dementors. Sirius wasn't facing the outside of the cell, but was rather gazing out the window with a longing expression on his face. I sat down on the floor and stuck my fingers through the bars.

"Hi Dad."

Sirius turned his gaze away from the window and set it on me. His skin looked even paler than it did the last time I was there, and there was barely any muscle left on his body, it was just all bone. Fractions of his greasey hair covered up parts of his yellow tinted eyes.

He came up to the side of the cell and pressed his back up against the wall. Despite all his horrible conditions, he managed a small smile on his face that faded as quickly as it had come.

"I told you not to come here anymore." He murmured, avoiding all eye contact.

"I've been kind of lonely, so I thought I'd come visit you." I said simply, glancing over at Bellatrix who was screaming and cursing.

"I don't want anyone to know I'm related to you. Why do you think you use your mother's last name?"

"I just...had to come see you. It's getting harder and harder to keep track of Harry without him actually seeing me." I whispered, trying not to attract attention to myself.

"Well you'll have to keep-"

Sirius broke off in mid-sentence in time to glance up at Cornelius Fudge, who had come to inspect the prison that day.

"Hello Miss Brown."

I dusted off my pants and stood up to eye level with the Minister.

"Hello Minister."

"Why in the name of Merlin's beard would you be visiting _this_ pathetic excuse for a person?" Fudge spat with a sharp glance at Sirius.

"I just wanted to say a few things to the man who ruined my life." I lied.

"Hey Fudge, are you done with that _Daily Prophet_? I miss doing the crosswords." Sirius asked, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

I bit back a laugh as a stunned look passed over Fudge's face as if Sirius had just called him a series of repulisve things. Fudge unfurled the _Prophet_ and stuck it through the bars.

"You best be on your way soon." Fudge warned before continuing down the row of cells.

"Git." I muttered under my breath after I was sure he was out of earshot.

"Peter!"

I jumped slightly and turned to face Sirius again.

"What? What about him?" I demanded, pressing against the bar to see what the news was.

"This _rat_ belongs to this boy, and this boy is going back to Hogwarts this year." Sirius hissed, clenching the paper tightly in his hands.

"That's...Ron Weasley! He's Harry's best mate!"

"You have to protect him, Teresa! You need to introduce yourself to Harry this year." Sirius said urgently, tossing the paper aside.

"But Dad, you said-"

"I know what I said! Listen to what I am saying now! If Peter gets even the slightest whiff that Voldemort is rising to power, he will kill Harry!"

I swallowed hard and pressed the heel of my hand to my forehead.

"Ok, alright, I'll do it."

As I began to walk away, he murmured something about coming to watch over Harry as well. I didn't think too much of it as I was escorted far away from Azkaban by the dementors, first of all because I didn't want to think about it, and second of all my thoughts were drowned out by the screaming echoing in my ears.

Once I was clear of Azkaban, I started my walk back to London, which was quite far. It didn't matter though, school didn't start for another two weeks or so.

I stopped in the middle of the night to make camp near a town, but I stayed on the outskirts of the town. I built a fire and sat with my legs hugged up to my chest.

Dad wanted me to protect Harry, but how could I do that? What if he found out I was related to Sirius? I would be chased out of school and hunted down by the Ministry.

Finally all my thoughts dragged me into a nightmare plagued dream that I had to try and supress all day long.

_"Fine! Get out! Go!" Anna Brown screamed, tears rolling down her face. "You want to go there so badly then GET OUT!"_

_"I'm just trying to protect you and Teresa!" Sirius yelled back, trying to not get thrown out the front door by Anna._

_"Just GO! GET OUT!"_

_The front door slammed shut, knocking off the decoration hanging on the door. Anna sank down onto the couch, tears flooding out of her eyes. Her tears only intensified when she heard the crack of a disapparation, confirming that he really did leave._

_The crack started up the baby that was sleeping in the other room. Anna got up and picked up her baby girl, cradling her tightly in her arms._

_"It's ok Teresa, everything is alright." Anna said softly, trying her best to comfort the baby despite her tears._

_After awhile the baby fell back asleep and she laid Teresa back in the crib and shut the door. Suddenly there was a crack and then knocking on the front door._

_Anna darted for the door and didn't bother to ask who it was, for she assumed it would be her husband. But the moment the door opened there was a bright blinding flash of green light and she crumpled to the floor, dead._

_"Black will pay even more than the death of you." A malevolent voice hissed._

_Unaware of the baby inside the house, the Dark Lord turned and left the body of Anna Brown on the floor, heading straight for the Potter's home._

I awoke from the nightmare panting and drenched in cold sweat, staring at the dead fire. My mother, Anna Brown, she had died basically right in front of me. I had no recollection of this until I found out from Dad what had happened, which resurface the memory. I had grown up in a foster home and one day, when I was nine, we went and visited an old neighborhood. I had found a picture of my mother along with Sirius, and I sought him out, only to find him, obviously, in Azkaban.

Everytime I visited Azkaban, all I could hear was the screaming conversation that my mum and dad had last made before my mum had died.

I shook off the nightmare as best as I could and headed off again for London.

**A/N: Ok, so if you're confused beyond belief I will clear things up later as the story progresses. Even if you HATED this story, I would appreciate the review. Please and Thanks everybody!**

**-Jackie-**


	2. The Meeting

**A/N: Well, obviously this story didn't pique too many interests, but I'm going to keep posting and updating because eventually somebody may send a review.**

**LOVE YOU Q!**

**alright, on with the story!**

After a few days of travel I finally reached the vicinity of the London area. I flagged down the Knight Bus and was greeted by the conductor, Stan Shunpike.

"Ello Teresa, 'ow are you?" He asked in his broken up accent while I shoved a few coins in his hand.

"Great." I mumbled, shifting my bag over on my shoulder before stepping onto the train.

I sat down on one of the beds and held onto the railing before the bus shot off with aloud BANG. I held the newspaper article in my free hand, glaring at the pictutre of the rat sitting on Ron Weasley's shoulder. How did I not notice him before? I had seen Ron carrying around that _thing_ throughout the school year...how was it that I didn't not recognize him?

I spent another day or so on the Knight Bus, and when the new _Daily Prophet_ came out, it had the title _Sirius Black Escaped from Azkaban_ printed on the front cover. There was a picture of Sirius when he had first gotten taken to Azkaban, screaming at the hands that were holding him back and taking him away.

"Oh no.." I mumbled.

"Oh yes! You know all 'bout Sirius Black, don't 'choo?" Stan inquired when I had gotten back on the bus.

"Yeah...I sure do."

The bus traveled on through the night and at one point Stan seemed to have spotted somebody I didn't see.

"Stop Ern!" He yelled.

I held on tightly to the railing as the bus suddenly came to a quick stop, nearly throwing me forward onto the window. Stan, who had been uneffected by the stop, hopped off the train to assist the witch or wizard that had flagged him down. After a moment or two a familar looking boy, with messy unkempt hair and coke bottle glasses stepped onto the bus. I cursed under my breath, not wanting to actually speak to Harry this early, for I hadn't really come up with anything to say to him. Stan shoved Harry's trunk under a bed right next to mine and then gave the ok for Ern to start going again.

"You may want to hang on." I advised, deciding that would be kind of important to say right now.

He looked at me curiously but didn't have time to react before the bus immidietaly shot off again, throwing him back up against the bed.

"How come the Muggles don't hear the bus?" Harry asked me, but Stan thought it would be his duty to explain the bus.

"Them! Don' listen properly, do they? Don' look properly either."

I snorted with some amusement, knowing that the bus was covered with magical enchantments that prevented it from being seen or heard by the Muggles.

"Don't you have some realtive's house to be at Harry?" I asked, still clinging onto the railing to prevent being thrown off.

Harry's eyes got suddenly wide and he looked around nervously, as if someone had overheard me call him by his name.

"I'm not Harry...I'm...umm...Neville." He stammered.

"I've seen you at Hogwarts, and I know who Neville Longbottom is too. If you're trying to hide from someone, you may want to cover up your scar a bit better."

Harry's hand immidietaly flew up to his forehead and he tried to flatten down his bangs to prevent his lightening bolt shaped scar from showing. He glanced over at the newspaper in Stan's hand with Sirius' picture on the cover.

"That man! He was on the Muggle news!"

I rolled my eyes and blocked out the conversation I had heard people tell a million times. Sirius Black was a supporter of Voldemort, and he blew apart a street with one curse killing twelve Muggles including Peter Pettigrew and blah blah blah. The story everybody thought they knew was just a bunch of lies, only three people knew what had really happened, and they were me, my dad, and Peter.

"I don't mean to interrupt this _interesting_ conversation." I said coldly. "But how long until we get to the Leaky Cauldron?"

"Yes!" Harry suddenly shouted making Stan jump. "That's where I'm getting off too!"

The bus came to a sudden stop and Harry held tightly onto the railing of his bed this time to prevent from having his face smashed into the nearest window. I swung my bag over my shoulder and stepped off the bus.

"Bye Neville, Bye Teresa!"

I suddenly spotted Fudge stepping out of the Leaky Cauldron, along with the inn keeper Tom. Stan became very exicted once he found out that _his _bus had been escorting the great Harry Potter. I rolled my eyes and followed Tom and Fudge inside the inn. Fudge had a death grip on Harry's shoulder and he kept his eyes trained on me as well.

"Well I'm glad you're both here and safe!" Fudge announced as we proceeded up the stairs.

"Why?" I asked, although knowing the answer. "Because of-"

"-NOW is not the best time to be discussing that." Fudge cut me off. "I will come and fetch you later Miss Brown, but for now, I need a word with Harry."

"Right." Harry mumbled under his breath.

"Right this way Miss Brown." Tom said, gesturing down the opposite hallway.

I took one last glance at Harry as he disappeared down the other hallway, looking nervously at me, then back at Fudge. Once we reached the room I handed Tom the money I owed him for the room and the locked it once he had left.

"Sirius Black will want to finish the job." I could hear Fudge saying, trying to make it seem like this was the end for me.

What did he know? Absolutely NOTHING! He only believed what he thought he saw, or rather heard. My dad was not a killer, Peter Pettigrew was.

I settled down on the four-poster bed and stared up the the canopy above my head. Why did Harry look so nervous? It's not like he knew that Sirius Black had "supposedly" escaped from Azkaban to kill him. Kill him? Right. More like protect him from Peter. But still, Sirius shouldn't have gotten out of Azkaban. Now he had every single person in the Ministry after him, and that would only worry me more. At least in Azkaban he was safe from the dementors, but outside of it? They would just be waiting to catch him and suck out his soul.

A sudden rapping on my door brought me from my thoughts.

"Teresa? A word with you?"

I opened the door and let the Minister in, where he swiftly opened the door and shut it again, placing the _Muffliato_ charm on it to prevent anybody from over hearing.

"You were the one who last saw Black. Did he say anything, anything at all, that would help us figure out how he escaped?"

"No." I answered a bit too quickly. "He didn't say anything."

"Are you sure?"

"Postivie."

"Well then, all we have to worry about is him coming after you. He'll want to finish you off that's for sure. I'm surprised the Dark Lord-"

"-Didn't find me in the crib as a baby and instead finished off my mother?" I finished, hearing this repeadetly.

"Well, yes, that. My dear you must be terrified." Fudge said, attempting to sound sympathetic.

"Oh yes." I said, trying to sound completely honest. "So must be Harry too."

"Well...uh...no. We haven't quite...told him that Black escaped to kill him."

"Well why not? He's going to find out eventually."

"Perhaps. But maybe we will catch him before Harry honestly has to worry about it. Now, you will be free to walk around London, so long as you stay in Diagon Alley. We wouldn't want to lose sight of you, now would we?"

With that Fudge headed for the door, lifting the charm that he had placed on it.

"Oh and Teresa. Do try to spend some time with Harry. He seemed a bit nervous when I last left him."

"Sure thing Minister, whatever you say."

**A/N: SEND MORE REVIEWS!**


	3. Don't Pity Me

**A/N: YAY I GOT SOME MORE REVIEWS! That makes me happy! So here's an update!**

I awoke the next morning rather early only because a bright light had shone into the room and spread across my face. I cursed it and tried to roll over and block it out with my pillow, but my pillow simply heated up and started to burn my face. I sat up in the bed, rubbing my eyes with the extra long sleeves of the shirt I was wearing. It used to belong to Sirius, but it wasn't like he needed it in Azkaban. I pulled on my boots so my feet didn't have to touch the frigid floor when there was a sudden knock on my door.

I rubbed my eyes again and headed for the door, opening it up slightly to see who it was. Harry stood in the doorway fully dressed and looked as if he had been up for hours. He jumped slightly at the sight of me and his cheeks flushed a bright red.

"Oh! I'm...um...so sorry! Did I wake you?" He stammered, staring at the oversize shirt with some curiosity.

"No, the damn sun did." I murmured, still partially asleep.

"Oh! Well...I wanted to see if you wanted to go and collect some of our school supplies today. You said you went to Hogwarts."

It took me a minute to understand what he was asking, and when it finally clicked I responded;

"Oh, yeah, sure. Just give me like fifteen minutes."

He nodded and fast-walked away from the door. I rolled my eyes and closed it behind me so I could change into my normal clothes. Once I was in my jeans and t-shirt I grabbed the brush off the side of the bed and began to try and tear through some of the knots in my hair.

"Good luck with that." The mirror chipped back, eyeing my tangly mass of black hair.

"Yeah, yeah."

I tossed the brush aside, grabbed a rubber band, and pulled my hair back into a ponytail. I stared at my reflection in the mirror and thought how odd it was that I looked so much like my dad, and yet no one in the Ministry could figure out the connection.

I thought back to what Fudge had said the other night, about how they hadn't told Harry that Sirius had "escaped to kill him." That was just plain stupid. Sirius escaped from jail to make sure that Peter didn't strangle Harry if I lost sight of the child for even a moment.

Somebody was bound to break the news to Harry, and he would probably get all freaked out about it. But it wasn't like I was going to get a chance to explain it, who would believe me even if I did?

When I was fully dressed and ready, I walked out of my room and headed for the staircase that led downstairs. I sat down on the banister and slid down it instead of taking the stairs. The banister shook violently once I had jumped off, but it did not collapse.

"You know that banister is too old to support the added weight." Tom grumbled from behind the counter.

"Better than getting my foot stuck in the stairs." I replied, glancing around the room for Harry.

He was sitting on one of the tables, reading the _Daily Prophet_ with another Sirius Black story on the cover. He seemed fascinated that somebody could actually escape from the most well guarded prison in all of London. I walked over to him and took the paper from his hands, flipping it upside down on the table.

"You don't need to read that rubbish. Come on, let's go." 

He murmured something under his breath, but followed me toward the entrance to Diagon Alley. I tapped the third brick above the garbage can with the tip of my wand and the walls jumped apart, revealing the marvelous Diagon Alley. It wasn't as jam-packed full of people as it usually was about a day or so before the students went back to school.

"Umm...so...should we go to Gringotts first?"

"Well that's pretty much the only thing we _can_ do right now. Unless you're planning to pay with an I.O.U." I replied.

Harry laughed and then followed me toward the large bank run by little troll things. To be quite honest, they kind of creeped me out. Once both our accounts were emptied we headed for Flourish and Blotts to get the school books that were required.

The manager inside seemed flustered, I assumed it must have been because of the fricking _Monster Book of Monsters _trying to tear each other apart. The manager began to relax when Harry told him he already had one, but I interrupted.

"Yeah, I need one."

A dark look passed over his face as he slipped back on the thick, gardening gloves.

"Don't blame me." I said as he reached into the crate, trying not to get bitten. "It's your fault for not knowing how to close them."

"You know how to close them?" The manager demanded, withdrawing his hand immidietaly and staring wide-eyed.

"Yep."

"Tell me!"

I contemplated not telling him because of the dark look he had given me, but then I decided it wasn't worth the effort. Besides that I needed my books, and I didn't want to get thrown out.

"Run your finger along the spine."

The manager looked at me like I was insane, but did as I said. Instantly the book fell silent, laying flat on top of the other books that tried to tear at it while it's defenses were down. The manager picked up the book and handed it to me with shaky hands.

"If I had only known that _before..._" He muttered under his breath while collecting the rest of the books we needed.

After Harry and I had all our errands done, we headed back to the Leaky Cauldron and he sat down on the bed in my room.

"Hey Teresa, can I ask you something?"

"Hmm?" I responded, keeping my attention focused on getting all the knots out of my hair.

"Back before I got on the Knight Bus, I saw...well...a big bear like dog."

Out of shock I dropped the brush in my hand and it fell to the ground with a loud clatter. I felt my cheeks burn bright and bent down to pick it up, at the same time that Harry had. Our heads bonked together and I recoiled with an angry hiss.

"I could do without the concussion." I snapped.

"Sorry." He said under his breath, handing me back the brush.

I went back to working the knots out, but a lump had formed in my throat. Harry had seen Sirius, not that he knew it was Sirius, but if he arose suspicion like that, the Ministry might begin to suspect that Sirius was an unregistered Animagus.

"Anyways," Harry continued. "I think it might have been an omen from the book we saw in Flourish and Blotts. What do you think?"

"I don't think it was that kind of omen Harry...trust me."

"Well...I guess..."

When my hand had become sore from trying to brush out the knots, I tossed the brush aside and then sat down on the bed beside him.

"So who are your parents? What are they like?" He asked, eyeing the very long shirt I had worn earlier that morning.

"They're both dead." I lied, well, half lied.

"Oh, I'm so-"

"Don't say you're sorry!" I stopped him mid-sentence, leaping from the bed. "Don't! I don't need anybody's sympathy!"

He looked slightly hurt, and I relaxed my shoulders, feeling a bit guilty...but not too much.

"Sorry, I just _hate _being pittied. It's got to be more irritating than trying not to use magic outisde school."

Harry laughed nervously, eyeing the door as if he was about to make a bolt for it any second. I laughed out loud after following his eyes to the door.

"I'm not making you stay in the room. _You _were the one who wanted to come in."

"Yeah." Harry laughed. "That is true. I guess I wanted to get to know you better. So umm...if you don't mind me asking, how _did _your parents die?"

I clenched my fists tightly together, trying not to let my anger get the better of me. _Relax_ I told myself _remember, he doesn't know you at all._

"Voldemort."

"And you survived?"

"Yeah, well, another error he made. I still can't figure out why, but he never found me in my crib in my room. He just came into our house, blasted my parents apart, and left."

"But why would he-"

"I don't know. I was a baby. But I'd _love_ to find out. Gives me a good reason to kill him."

"And blowing up your parents isn't a good enough reason?" Harry inquired.

"Of course it is. But the angrier I get, the better chance I have at killing him."

**A/N: That's it for now. Send some more reviews!**


	4. Aren't You Afraid?

**A/N: Again, I lost some reviewers for that chapter, but whatever. I posted this for other people's enjoyment, and I've noticed that people are reading as the chapter's progress, just not responding. So...here we go.**

The following morning the sun woke me up again, heating up my shirt this time instead of my pillow. I rolled out of bed, slipping on the dirty old boots that also belonged to Sirius. My dad's things were my prized possesions, I treasured them to the point that I considered them to be part of me. Also the tear glass shaped necklace that hung from my neck, which belonged to my mother once upon a time. When I had explored the house with my foster parents I had found it in a jewelery box right next to the picture of her and my dad.

I heard cheerful shouting from downstairs and instead of changing my clothes like I should have, I opened the door and groggily headed down the stairs to see what all the noise was. Once I got the the foot of the stairs I saw Harry circled around Ron and Hermione who were gabbing about how he was. I sat down on the banister and slid down again, nearly crashing into Hermione as I came to the bottom.

"Sorry." I muttered after she had jumped back a foot or two.

"Oh! Umm...that's alright. Why didn't you use the stairs?" Hermione inquired, staring at the stairs as if there was something on it she missed.

"Too slow." I responded, wiping the side of my face with my sleeve.

"Oh, everybody, this is Teresa Brown. She's in Gryffindor too..."Harry introduced. "Teresa, this is-"

"-Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley." I cut him off. "I know."

"Oh..well...anyways, we were going to head over to the Magic Menagerie to get some rat tonic for Scabbers-"

I stared at the rat in Ron's hands with the utmost hatred, watching Peter squeal and squirm around frantically as he caught sight of me. Although it did please me to know that the rat tonic might make him sick since he wasn't a real rat. I had to use a lot of self control not to take the rat from Ron's hands and stomp on it.

"Teresa, you ok?" Harry questioned, making me look away.

"Yeah, fine. Let me get dressed. I'll be right down."

Before anyone could say anything else I ran up the stairs two at a time and slammed the door shut behind me.

"Stupid rat." I cursed under my breath, carefully taking off the long-sleeved shirt and tucking it into my trunk.

I pulled on my normal daily clothes and ran back out the room, sliding down the banister again to meet them so we could go to the pet store. Once there the witch at the front desk tried to offer Ron a new rat, while at the same time a huge, orange tabby cat suddenly jumped on his head and lunged for Peter. Even though the witch caught the cat, I burst into a frenzy of laughing as Peter bolted for the door. Ron glared at me and stormed out of the pet shop after his rat with Harry at his heels.

"You should get the cat Hermione." I said once I had stopped laughing.

"Please." The witch agreed, holding the cat. "Poor Crookshanks has been here for years, and nobody seems to want him."

"Aww...the poor thing. I think I will take him." Hermione agreed, placing the money she had gotten for her birthday on the counter.

"Don't forget your friend's rat tonic." The witch said as we began to walk out.

I grabbed the red bottle and followed Hermione back into the Leaky Cauldron. Hermione began to talk about all her classes, but I was too busy thinking about how I was going to keep Peter away from Harry when they were sleeping right next to each other in the same dormitory. If I didn't do something and there was even the tiniest whisper of Voldemort's return to power, Harry would be stabbed and killed in half a second.

"So are your parents muggles or wizards?" Hermione was still gabbing, but the question had brought me out of my thoughts.

"Oh, umm...they were wizards."

"Were?"

"Yeah, Voldemort killed them both." I said absentmindedly, gazing around at all the shops that were aligned on the street.

I turned to look at her since she had made no comment to sympathize, but her lips were pursed together, as if she was at a loss for words. And sure enough, the only thing she could come to say was;

"Oh."

Once back in the Leaky Cauldron, Ron and Hermione bickered about Hermione buying the cat and so on. It was entertaining to watch Peter squeal and squirm in Ron's hands, to see him in fear and in pain. The little git, what I wouldn't give to just blast him through the nearest wall. When they had stopped arguing, Ron introduced me to some of his family members, the most entertaining of the bunch were Fred and George. Percy began muttering something about him being the only one who could set an example for their sister.

"We tried to shut him in a pyramid," George said, sighing. "But Mum spotted us."

Harry and I both laughed, and I could actually picture them shutting Percy in a pyramid and him yelling and cursing at them to let him out. The dinner was long, but also at the same time enjoyable. I liked listening to the twin's gabbing about some new gags they were making and how they would test them.

"Teresa dear," Mrs. Weasley cut in from across the table, and I jumped in surprise at someone adressing me like that, especially since I had just met her. "Would you like a ride to King's Cross tomorrow?"

"Oh, no." I said, my cheeks burning. "I can walk."

"Nonsense!" Mr. Weasley cut me off from across the table. "You should ride with us! After all, we're going to the same place."

I knew he was just worried because the Ministry had told him that Sirius was after me, which was just a load of crap.

"Really, I don't have any problems walking. I prefer it actually."

"No, no." Mr. Weasley said again, with an impatient wave of his hand. "I _insist_."

"Come on!" Fred whispered from beside me. "We'll show you one of our products."

I laughed and also sighed in defeat at the same time, knowing I wasn't going to win here.

"Alright, alright, I'll go."

"Excellent!"

After dinner I headed sleeply back up the stairs, ignoring Ron and Percy's yelling from the bedroom. I flopped down on my bed and rolled onto my side, digging through my trunk for Sirius' shirt. When I had found it I clutched it to my chest, catching a bit of the cologne that was still on it from him. My dad, stuck in a jail for twelve years with all the happiness and...life sucked out of him. And here I was sitting on a comfortable bed, about to get in a flying Ministry car headed to a school that was well protected and just the right temperature for the seasons. Wherereas in Azkaban, he was freezing cold or blazing hot all the time, and he was pratically starved to death.

Sighing, I unbuttoned my shirt and started to take it off when there was a knock on my door.

"Door's open." I said, slipping on Sirius' shirt.

Harry pulled the door open wide and then slammed it shut again, surprsie passing over his face.

"Oh, sorry! I didn't know you were changing." He murmured, keeping his eyes on the floor.

"It's fine. I've had worse." I replied, pulling off my boots and settling myself down on the bed with my legs folded. "Is there something you needed?"

"Actually yeah." He answered, sitting down on the bed. "Why didn't you tell me Sirius Black was after you?"

I raised my eyebrow, surprised.

"How did you find out?"

"Overheard Mr. and Mrs. Weasley talking about it. Apparently he's after me too."

"Oh? Is that so?"

"Well, yeah. Aren't you afraid? From what I heard, Black has been trying to kill you for years."

"No. I'm not afraid." I said truthfully, grabbing a pillow from behind me and holding it across my lap.

"A man has escaped from the most guarded prison in the world to come after the two of us, and you're not scared in the slightest?" Harry inquired.

"No. It can't be any worse than having Voldemort stalking you everywhere can it?"

Harry opened his mouth to reply, then snapped it shut again, unable to come up with anything to say against that.

"Exactly. And besides Harry, we're going to a huge school that is going to be protected by dozens of charms and enchantments, how do you think he's going to get within the vicinity of the school?"

"I guess you're right..." Harry replied. "Thanks Teresa."

"Sure, sure." I said with a wave of my hand.

There was more yelling from next door, and I covered my ears with the pillow.

"If I have to listen to that all night there is going to be some problems." I mumbled, making Harry laugh.

Finally he went to his bedroom to attempt to get some sleep, while I curled up under the covers of my bed. Underneath my pillow I pulled out the picture of Sirius and Anna, whose hands were interlocked and in both of their free hands, they were supporting up a baby girl, who smiled and waved back at me. I fell asleep still clutching the picture to my chest.

**A/N: Reviews ARE appreciated.**


	5. Remus Lupin

**A/N: Like I said, I really haven't been getting reviews, but I noticed that the amount of hits have been realitvely the same, which means people are reading along, just not reviewing. But that's fine, I put this up just to see who would read it. Thanks everybody!**

Tom shook me awake the next morning roughly, which might have seemed gentle to him. I groaned and waved him away, slamming my face back into the pillow to try and let it absorb me back into sleep. When it didn't work I crawled out of the bed, stuffing the photograph into my bag before pulling on my boots. Harry and Ron entered the room as I had pulled on a t-shirt and a tie, both of them looking tired and Ron, slightly irritable.

"Looks like _somebody_ had a wonderful night." I said to Ron with a grin, while he mumbled a curse under his breath.

"Why are you wearing a tie?" Harry questioned, looking down at the strangely plaided tie.

"Because I can." I replied simply, carrying my trunks and such down the stairs and down to the tables.

Mr. Weasley lead us to the Ministry cars after we had all eaten breakfast and the cars headed off for King's Cross. Once we had landed Mr. Weasley seemed to keep a death grip on mine and Harry's arm, as if Sirius was going to pop up out of the ground and take the two of us away. I laughed to myself, right before we got to the platform entryway. I paired up with Fred on Mr. Weasley's demand and we ran through the platform, meeting Hermione and George a moment later. I followed Hermione and Ron onto the train, standing in the entryway as I waited for Harry to come as well. Mr. Weasley had drawn him aside, most likely to warn him about Sirius. The train was starting to pull away from the station when Harry ran for it. I grabbed his hand and pulled him onto the train, just as the doors carefully closed themselves.

"Brilliant Harry. Simply brilliant."

Harry wasn't paying attention though, his eyes seemed to search the entire compartment, this was scaring him.

"Come on." He said, grabbing my arm and pulling me along with him.

When we met Ron and Hermione in the hallway, Harry told them he needed to talk to them alone.

"Go away Ginny." Ron said, brushing his sister aside.

"I'll come find you later." I promised her and she still somewhat sulked away. "And Harry you know I am capeable of moving myself. I'm not a tow truck."

He managed an apology and we all piled into a compartment with a man, who was sleeping in the very corner of the room. He seemed familar, but I couldn't quite place it. Something Sirius had said about him, something about a man he had been friends with...

"Who do you think he is?" Ron inquired, settling down in a seat across from the man.

It finally clicked in my brain as I stared at his shabby clothes and young face. The werewolf...

"Remus Lupin." I murmured to myself, making everybody look up.

"How'd you know that?" Ron demanded.

Before I could think of some sort of excuse for knowing the name off the top of my head, Hermione pointed to the suitcase above Lupin's head.

"It's on his suitcase."

Harry shook off the name and started explaning to Ron and Hermione what he had already relayed to me the other night. Sirius Black this, Sirius Black that, bah! It was all a load of rubbish, nobody seemed to think that there was an alternative story to the one they had heard. But then again, the parents didn't think much of it either. Suddenly my heart leapt up into my throat as I stared back at Lupin.

He knew who my dad was, he knew my dad had gotten married, he must have known who I was. What if he ratted me out to the Ministry? Could I be sent to Azkaban just like my dad, wouldn't they consider me poteintally dangerous, a killer, just like they assumed Sirius to be? What was I going to do?

"Oy, Teresa, you alright?"

I looked up at Harry who was trying to hand me some candy, staring at me worridly.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I replied quickly, taking the food from him. "Why do you ask?"

"Your face has gone a bit pale." Hermione added, taking a bite out of her candy.

"I'm fine." I said, waving away their concern.

Suddenly the compartment door slid open and Draco Malfoy stepped in, along with Crabbe and Goyle, because god forbid he go anywhere without them. If he was a boy band, they would be his backup dancers, constantly following his every move and taunt.

"Oh look, it's Potty and the Weasel."

I rolled my eyes and reached for another cauldron cake that was settled in-between Hermione and me.

"Go away Malfoy." I stated plainly, watching his eyes flicker over to me, then back to Ron.

"I heard your father finally git his hands on some gold this summer, did your mother die of shock?"

Ron got ready to get to his feet, flexing his knuckles and fingers into a tight fist. Before he could get to attack him first, I picked up a really sticky and creamy cupcake like thing and threw it at Malfoy's head. It hit right on, all the cream and butter dripping down his head and sinking into his blonde hair.

"How _dare_ you!" Malfoy nearly screamed, attempting to pull the candy out of his hair.

"What are you going to do? Run to daddy? Do you realize that people think your the biggest pansy in the entire school? _'My father will hear about this!'_ Well here's an idea, learn to stand up for yourself and stop bringing your daddy into all your problems."

Malfoy stared with his mouth hanging slightly open, staring with a furious glare. But he knew better than to start something with a teacher sitting there, so he only stared for a moment more before storming off with Crabbe and Goyle.

Harry's face had turned a deep red for laughing so hard and even Hermione had an akward grin on her face. Ron was still glaring furiously at the doorway, as if he was debating whether or not he should charge Malfoy out the door.

"It's fine Ron, sit." I said, gently pushing him back into his chair.

"I'm not going to take anything from him this year. If he makes one more crack at my family I'm gonna..."

He finished his sentence with a violent gesture in the air, making it seem like he twisted Malfoy's head off. I laughed again before proceeding to eat something else that was in the pile. Suddenly the train began to slow down, and we weren't completely to the school yet. Finally the train pulled to a complete stop, and Harry poked his head out of the compartment to look around the corridor. As if on cue all the lights went out, plunging the entire train into darkness. I grabbed Harry's arm and pulled him back into his seat, trying to avoid trampling on anybody's feet.

"Do you think we've broken down?" Ron asked from across from me.

"I dunno..." I replied, peering out the window curiously.

The compartment door slid open quickly and somebody stumbled in, falling on top of Harry.

"Oops! Sorry!" Came Neville's voice.

After a moment Hermione decided to go and ask the conductor what was going on, passing Ginny as she made her way out. I closed the compartment door after she had left, jumping when Lupin's voice ordered;

"Stay where you are."

Suddenly my heart jumped up into my throat as I finally realized what was going on. Before I could say anything though the compartment door slid open and a cloaked figure made it's way closer into the room. The dementor's hands were shriveled up and looked as if it had long since been dead. What made me so terrified though, is that the dementors in Azkaban knew not to attack me because there were no orders to, or any reason to rather. But it could sense the blood of Sirius running through my own veins, the relation. Outside of Azkaban, it could easily mistake me for Sirius.

An intense cold fell over the entire compartment, and even my fingers remained rooted where they had been, too numb to respond to my movements. All I could hear was my mother screaming as loud as she possibly could, blocking out everything else around me. I was clearly aware that the dementor was moving forward towards me, it's icy and slimey hands were wound around my neck. I thought my ears were going to explode and all I could do was wait for it to suck out my soul.

There was a sudden blinding flash of light and I was sprawled out on the ground, gasping and panting on my side with Hermione shaking me, not making the pain any better.

"Teresa? Harry?" She was calling, staring around frantically.

"mmm...fine Hermione." I stammered, pushing her away from me gently.

"Really? Are you sure?"

I jumped into an upright position and pressed my back up against one of the seats, staring up at Lupin's face, trying to make my exterior look calm and collect even though my heart was thudding against my rib cage at a rapid pace. He was studying my expression curiously, and I knew he was the connection between Sirius and myself.

"Yes." I replied, forcing my voice to sound collected. "I'm fine."

Suddenly remembering, I crawled over to Harry and picked him up and putting him up onto one of the seats. Once he had woken up, everybody looked around at him worridly as the train continued to move and the lights went back on. I breathed a sigh of relief, both for him and for myself. It must have been Lupin who conjured that Patronus, but why? Lupin broke off big slabs of chocolate for everybody and then proceeded to talk with the train conductor. While they gabbed about the dementor, I tried to steady my breathing. I had almost gotten my soul sucked out, and I still felt the slimey fingers around my throat.

"Something different happened to you Teresa though." Hermione stated once they had finished explaining to Harry what had happened. "Harry passed out when it came in the room, but the dementor put it's-"

She was cut off by Ginny, who was trembling in the corner and still shaking like mad. I walked over to her and put my arms around her, pulling her into a hug. I knew how she felt, I probably knew it even more than she did. Lupin walked back in, a faint smile on his face;

"I didn't poison the chocolate you know."

I didn't need it, nor did I have any reason to want to try and eat it. For all I knew he could have poisoned my bit. I stuck it in my pocket when he wasn't looking, which in retrospect was probably a stupid thing to do. Nothing was said for the rest of the journey, and when we finally pulled up in front of Hogsmeade and got inside the carriages, Harry still looked as pale as death.

"Dementors feed on happy feelings and that is how they torture you," I began, staring out the window. "They leave you with nothing but the worst memories you've ever had. That's why you passed out Harry. You've had so many bad things happen to you that it was all used against you in such an impressive force that you passed out."

"But something else happened to you." Hermione pointed out as we passed through the iron gates. "It had it's hands around your neck and was, I dunno...doing something..."

"It was dark." I lied smoothly, handing Harry the chocolate I had shoved into my pocket earlier. "I'm sure you just thought something else was happening to me."

Hermione opened her mouth to object but the carriage suddenly pulled to a stop and we all climbed out, only to be greeted by Malfoy once again.

"You _fainted _Potter?"

Malfoy pushed past Hermione and blocked our way into the castle, which only infuriated me.

"Shove off, Malfoy." Ron said, his fists clenched tightly together.

"Did you faint as well Weasley? Did the scary old dementor frighten you?"

"Oy Malfoy." I said so he would direct his attention to me. "I think you've got a little something stuck in your hair."

His hand flew up to his head, where bits of the cupcake were still entangled in it.

"Hmm...maybe I can make it fall out..." I stated, pulling my wand out from my robes.

I remembered a spell I had found scrawled on a scratch piece of paper and I had been itching to try it out and see what it did. Malfoy was the perfect test subject. Inside my head I said _Levicorpous_ and suddenly there was a shout. Malfoy was hoisted into the air by his ankle, and was hanging there yelling and screaming. Crabbe and Goyle jumped around trying to get him down, and Harry and Ron burst into a frenzy of laughing. Hermione shook her head in disproval, and as if on cue, Malfoy was suddenly flipped back feet first and was on the ground.

"Is there a problem here?" Lupin's voice inquired, making my skin crawl.

Malfoy glared at me, but then gestured for Crabbe and Goyle to follow him up the stairs without a word of thanks to Lupin. I ran with the three of them up the stairs, and McGonagall called over Harry and Hermione into her office. I walked with Ron toward the Great Hall, noticing that he was taking sidelong glances at me.

"Why do you keep staring?" I demanded, running up another set of stairs.

"I just can't help think about what Hermione was saying. I'm sure the dementor had hold of you..."

"No, it didn't. Don't you think I would know if it had?"

"Well...yeah."

"Alright then, shut it." I snapped as we found our seats in the Great Hall.

I became immidietaly absorbed in Lupin though, who was sitting at the staff table in the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher chair. I didn't pay attention to Dumbledore's speech, but kept my eyes trained on Lupin, as if I didn't he would announce to the whole entire school that I was the daughter of Sirius Black. I had a class with him, naturally, what was I going to do?

Did he even know I was Sirius' daughter? Of course he knew, how could he not know? He and my dad were still friends when I was little, so obviously he would recognize me. The moment everybody realized who I was, I would be questioned and even sent to Azkaban most likely. They wouldn't want a repeat of the same thing, they would suspect that I was out to kill Harry, just like my dad supposedly wanted to. I couldn't let that happen...I couldn't.

"Hey Teresa, aren't you hungry?" Hermione asked, who was neatly putting the things onto her plate, wherereas Ron had just grabbed handfuls of things and thrown them onto his plate

"Umm...no not particularly. I think I'll just, head off to bed."

I walked along the table until I spotted Percy and explained to him that I wasn't feeling too well.

"It was that wretched dementor wasn't it?" He said, his voice sympathetic, which really bothered me. "The password's Fortuna Major."

"Thanks Percy."

I swift ran from the Great Hall, darting toward the moving staircases. When I finally reached the dormitory I ran up the stairs two at a time and got into the four poster bed. I buried myself beneath the sheets without getting into my pajamas, pressing my face into the matress.

"This isn't going to be a good year."

**A/N: Probably the longest chapter I've written. But I'll top it eventually XD**

**Peace, Love, and Pie,**

**-Jackie-**


	6. Running and Girlie Screams

**A/N: Alright, since I've started school already it's going to take me some time to continue to update, because even though I know only my friend reviews, I know there are still plenty of people reading. So I'll try and update on the weekends, savvy?**

Hermione woke me the next morning, saying that if I didn't get up I was going to miss breakfast and not get any of my classes.

"Hermione, missing class is a _good_ thing." I informed her, but still getting out of bed anyways.

"So says you." She replied, handing me a boot that had made it's way across the room.

I followed her out of the common room and into the Great Hall, where we met up with Harry and Ron to get our schedules, and eat obviously. During breakfast Harry kept glancing back at Malfoy, who was telling everybody about how Harry had fainted on the train, but making it sound more dramatic and pathetic.

"Do you want me to throw something at him?" I inquired, noticing Harry looking back again without taking my eyes of the schedule. "Or shall I pull down his pants and hang him upside down again?"

"Err...neither. Thanks though." Harry replied, biting back a laugh.

"If you say so. Anyways the first Quidditch match of the season is against Slytherin isn't it?"

"Yeah, it is."

"Do you know if there are any empty positions? I'll play anything." I said, taking a sip of my juice.

"Umm...not sure. I'll talk with Wood though later."

After breakfast I followed the three of them up the seven staircases to Divination, in my opinion one of the stupidest classes that the school offered for us to take. If it wasn't a requirement I swear I would replace with something much more interesting and...attention holding.

When we finally got into the classroom, well, after the first few moments of listening to Professor Trelawney's talking and I was fast asleep. Her perfumey room and low temperatures was enough to knock anybody out. Hermione prodded me awake again with her quill.

"Pay attention!" She snapped, handing me a cup full tea. "We're supposed to be reading tea leaves."

"Right, tea leaves, got it." I said, pulling my book closer to me and drinking all the tea in the cup.

I swapped cups with Hermione and stared at the symbols, my mind clearing up a bit after drinking the tea.

"Let's see, you have something in here that looks like a cloud..." I began, scanning the book for the definition.

But I noticed that Hermione wasn't paying attention, for once in her life. She was staring over at Trelawney, who was explaining to Harry about what his tea leaves meant.

"The falcon...my dear you have a deadly enemy."

"But everyone knows _that_!" Hermione stated loudly.

When Trelawney stared at her quizzicaly, I stepped in to voice out as well.

"Really Hermione. Who _might_ this Dark Lord be?" I asked, resting my face on my fist.

Hermione bit her lower lip to bite back her laughter then turned back to watch Trelawney examine Harry's cup. She read off more misfortnae and deadly things to come for Harry. When I had stopped listening for a moment, only a moment, Trelawney screamed. Immidietaly every eye in the classroom was fixed on her, everybody eager to know what had caused such a ruckus.

"My dear...you have the Grim...the omen of death!" Trelawney explained dramatically.

I would have started to laugh if it wasn't for the colour draining from Harry's face. He was terrified...and this was all because the Ministry were just a bunch of idiots. He no doubtly thought that Sirius Black would be coming to kill him, and that made him afraid. I couldn't support him and convince him that nobody was out to kill him...at least...not right now. But I couldn't just explain to him that I was Sirius' daugther! He wouldn't be even more petrified than he already was. So all I could do was sit back and watch the horror pass over his face.

"Isn't it time for us to leave?" I demanded, cramming my books inside my bag.

"Yes, quite right. Please pack up children and head for your next class."

I waitied for everyone down the rope ladder, leaning up against the wall and watching all the kids who were whispering about Harry's deadly omen. When we reached Transfiguration class, Harry dragged himself to the very back o the classroom, hoping to avoid the wandering eyes of everyone else. I sat right beside him, trying to avoid getting caught by Professor McGonagall as I whispered to Harry about the tea leaves.

"Come off it Harry, it was tea leaves for pete's sake. Are you honestly going to let your life be determined by a lump of junk?"

"Well, I know it sounds stupid, but what am I supposed to do?" Harry whispered, his voice trembling.

"Not believe a lump of tea leaves that could be mistaken for silly putty?"

Professor McGonagall snapped us all to attention, demanding why we were all so drained and dead-like in her class. I tapped my quill impatiently against the side of my desk as she talked, my legs in movement with the tapping of my quill. There was only a few periods left before Lupin's class, and after that my whole life could be screwed. But then again I had to wonder, why had he saved me on the train from the dementor? He was the only one in that room who could conjure a patronus as far as I was aware.

"Teresa, oy! Class is over." Harry was shaking my arm.

I quickly shoved my books inside my bag and then followed him out the door, trying to settle my breathing. The three of them headed for the Great Hall for lunch, which I immidietaly declined.

"How can you skip a meal?" Ron demanded, stopping at the entryway with Harry at his side.

"Easily." I replied. "I'll see you later for Hagrid's class."

I started off down the hallway, sprinting up the stairs, hoping to make it to the common room so I could exchange my books. When I was on the third set of stairs I tripped over my own two feet. My books flew out of my bag and scattered across the stairwell and my wrist twisted when I tried to break my fall. I muttered a stream of curses as I made my way across the floor and grabbed a book at a time.

"Do you need some help?" A voice asked.

I jumped to my feet and spun around face-to-face with Lupin, and I felt all the colour drain from my face.

"No." I managed, forcing my voice to sound calm and normal.

Nevertheless he picked up my books that I had missed while I remained rooted to the spot, my mind becoming fuzzy as I tried to think of something logical to do besides stand there like an idiot. He handed me my books which I took and stuck into my bag, still standing in the same exact spot. Lupin simply stared at me, examining my expression with some curiosity.

"Teresa?"

I immidietaly jumped and spun around to stare at Harry, who had seemingly followed me up the stairs.

"Oh! Hi Harry!" I said loudly, sliding down the banister until I stopped on the stair next to him.

Lupin had disappeared on the stairs, and I could feel my heart thundering against my rib cage. Harry was also staring at me, curious as to why I was still staring at the spot where Lupin had stood.

"So umm..." He began.

"Everything's fine." I assured him before he could even finish.

By the time we had made it back to the Great Hall it was time for Care of Magical Creatures. I tried to steady my breathing as I walked alongside Hermione, who was standing a few feet away from Ron, most likely they had another disagreement. I glanced back at the castle several times, as if I was expecting Dumbledore to come racing out with half a dozen dementors waiting to drag me to Azkaban. But by the time we had made it to Hagrid's hut, I actually attempted to pay attention to what was going on.

After everyone else learned how to open up their textbooks, Hagrid took us over to a padlocked area, where there was nothing in sight at first. He walked into the gate to go and find whatever it was he was so keen on showing us.

"God, this place is going to the dogs," Malfoy said loudly, of course so everyone else would listen to him. "That oaf teaching classes, my father will have a fit when I tell him-"

"Shut up Malfoy." Harry replied.

"Careful Potter, there's a dementor behind you-"

I had picked up a rock off the ground, ready to throw it, but then Lavender Brown squealed loudly and pointed at the big winged creature inside the gate. I tried to think about it for a minute, but I couldn't think of what it was.

"Hippogriffs!" Hagrid said proudly.

He proceeded to give instructions about how to treat a Hippogriff so it didn't rip off your arm, then proceeded to ask who would like to actually come up and meet one of them. When no one offered Harry stepped forward toward the fence.

"Oh no Harry! Remember your tea leaves!" Lavender and Paravati warned.

"Shut it or I'll shut it for you." I snapped at them, giving Harry a gentle push closer to the fence.

He glanced back at me with a half smile but climbed over the chainlink fence and followed Hagrid's instructions from there on out. He bowed before the Hippogriff named Buckbeak, trying not to blink as he was instructed. When Buckbeak finally replied Harry started to stroak it's beak before Hagrid convinced him to ride it. We watched as Buckbeak soared around the castle with Harry on his back.

When he came back we all climbed over the fence to meet the other Hippogriffs that Hagrid had brought out. Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle had walked over to Buckbeak to work with him while I followed along, to make sure they didn't make another crack at Harry.

I was petting Buckbeak's head absentmindly, watching Harry as he stood a step or two away from it.

"You're so adorable." I told Buckbeak while my hand traveled to his wing joint.

"Adorable?" Malfoy shot with a furious glare at me. "More like pathetic. You're not dangerous at all are you? You great, ugly brute."

Buckbeak jumped onto his hind legs knocking me backwards onto my back while it came down on Malfoy's arm, slashing it with it's talons. Malfoy let out a high-pitched scream and fell back onto the ground while Hagird wrestled Buckbeak back into the collar so he could get to Malfoy.

"I'm dying!" Malfoy yelled. "I'm dying! It's killed me!"

"Your not dying!" Hagrid objected, his face draining of all colour.

Hermione ran and opened the gate while Hagrid scooped Malfoy up into his arms and ran him up to the hospital wing. I sat on the ground still, staring at the spot where Malfoy had just been laying. He deserved it, the buggar. But this wasn't going to end in Buckbeak's favour. Harry offered his hand and pulled me to my feet while we followed Hagrid out of the padlocked area and up into the castle, where the Slytherin's were cursing out Hagrid.

When we got back to the Gryffindor common room, I paced back and fourth unevenly, still waiting for one of the teacher's to come bursting through the room with ten dementors. Only because of Hermione's protesting did I actually follow them down to the Great Hall to have some dinner. I absentmindedly loaded my plate with a bunch of food and ate it, keeping my gaze trained on the door.

The three of them discussed what they were going to do to Hagrid, but I was barely paying attention. Lupin had suddenly entered the room and took long strides over to the teacher's table without a glance at me. I watched him while I ate, my leg tapping against the ground impatiently. Had he said something to Dumbledore?

After dinner he got up from the table but instead of walking past me like I had hoped, he stopped right behind me, and Harry abruptly stopped talking to stare up at him.

"Teresa, might I have a word?"

My heart leapt up into my throat and I cautiously rose from my seat, shooting Harry a pleading 'help me' stare before following Lupin out the doorway.

"Wait!" That was Harry's voice from down the hallway.

Lupin froze, his eyes turning to focus on Harry who met us in the hallway.

"Professor, could you speak to her when we see you on Thursday?" Harry debated, grabbing my arm. "I need her help on a very important assignment that I'll be working on all evening."

Lupin focused on Harry's face to see if he could detect whether or not he was lying, but then smiled at him.

"Alright. Thursday after class."

I walked slowly away with Harry still holding onto my arm, and when Lupin was out of view I sprinted and finally came to a stop outside the Great Hall, my hands on my knees.

"I owe you." I responded.

"Yes you do. You can repay me by telling me why you're so keen on staying away from Professor Lupin while we're working on that assignment."

I laughed.

**A/N: I need to go to bed.**


	7. Boggarts

**A/N: So it's been months since I last updated, and all I can say is that I've been incredibly busy and distracted. But I'll spare you the long author's note and let you get right to the story.**

We were all settled in the common room Wednesday evening, my quill tip smacking against the side of the table as I tried to think. There had to be some way, any way I could try and convince Lupin that I was not Sirius' daughter. Or at least, some way to get him to not tell everybody.

"Teresa would you stop that annoying tapping?" Ron shot as he tried to figure out his Divination homework.

"Huh?" I inquired absentmindley.

I moved my quill back to the parchment I was supposed to be doing my homework on, but still found myself unable to concentrate. It would be so much easier to think if Sirius wasn't running around, making me worry about his condition. This would be so much easier if he had just trusted me to stick to my job, I had taken care of myself for several years, surely I could another? Just the very thought of it made me even more bitter inside. I was plenty responsible, and yet he saw fit to break out of prison and turn me into a worried housewife. A loud snapping noise dragged me from my thoughts and I stared down at the broken halves of my quill. Harry and Ron were staring, which severly pissed me off.

"What?!" I snapped

Ron turned back to his work as his ears flashed a bright red, but Harry continued to stare at me as I tried to reattach the quill pieces. Sighing with defeat, I tossed the quill remains aside and rested my head on the table.

"Forget it, I give up. I'm going to bed."

"Alright...goodnight."

I waved behind my head and followed the stairs up to the girl's dormitories. I flopped down into bed and buried my face deep within the pillow.

"Bad evening I take it?" Hermione asked from her bed.

"Ive had better." I mumbled, my words muffled by the pillow.

"So, I was wondering..." Hermione began.

_Oh no._ I thought to myself. _Here we go._

"What was your mom like? Do you remember at all?"

I turned to look at her earnest eyes, her head on the pillow as well as she watched me.I wasn't expecting that question, I figured it would have something to do with school work or what happened with Voldemort. I sighed heavily and closed my eyes lightly, focusing all my deep and submerged thoughts on my mother's face and her entire exterior. And the picture, she blurred image of my mother's dazzling face I had to fixiate upon.

"I don't remember too well. But she was absolutely beautiful. She had this really long brown hair that she would tickle my nose with, and these bright blue eyes. And she always smelled like biscuits."

"Biscuits?"

"Yeah." A felt a smile tugging on the corner of my lips. "And she would sing to me. There was this song, I can't remember the words exactly...but it went something like..."

I cracked open an eye a bit to see if she was still paying attention. Her head was propped up on her hand and she was watching me, expectantly. I thought carefully about the words and the tune and began to sing it quietly.

"_Nothing's gonna harm you, not while I'm around. Nothing's gonna harm you darling, not while I'm around..." _**(A/N: I know I ripped off Sweeney Todd, but the song seemed fit.)**

Hermione was still silent, waiting for me to continue, but I couldn't remember the rest of the words. I glanced at her, expecting her to say something in response to that.

"She used to sing it to me when I would get scared at night. When my Dad would leave for the evening..."

"It's a very nice song." She finally said, slipping her feet under her bed covers.

"Aye. It would be nice if I could hear her sing it again." I sighed, then changed up my mood. "But whatever, the past is the past. There's no need to live in it."

Hermione sighed bitterly at my lack of empathy toward my own past.

"You know," She said pressing her face into the pillow and pulling the sheets up to her neck. "Some day all of that is going to catch up to you and you're going to cry."

"That'll be the day Hermione."

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The following morning in double Potions I was so shaky that I didn't even notice Malfoy come in moping and complaining. I sat trying to keep my hand steady beside Hermione as I worked the knife, but my hand continued to slip and my fingers were all now cut and bleeding. I had yet to notice that all of my concoctions were incorrect and that my cauldron was fizzing a bright purpleish colour instead of the acid green it was supposed to be.

"Teresa!"

"What?!" I jumped from my seat and slammed the knife down into my index finger.

Biting back a stream of curses I gingerly removed the knife from my finger and tossed it aside, looking for some kind of cloth to wrap around my bleeding fingers.

"Pitiful Brown." Snape shot me a malevolent look while staring down at my cauldron.

I gave him the same exact look of hatred while he passed by to go critize the other Gryffindors in the room. Hermione streched out her arm asking for my hand with a clean cloth in the other hand. I allowed her to bandage my hand, stopping the flow of blood from all of my fingers.

"Let me help you fix that." She sighed, leaning over after sure that Neville's was repaired.

But I stopped listening to her. I overhead Seamus Finnigan's conversation with Harry and Ron, something about Sirius.

"-they reckon Sirius Black's been sighted!" He was saying.

"Where?" Harry exhaled heavily.

"Not too far from here. It was a Muggle who saw him. 'Course, she didn't really understand. She phoned some hotline and by the time the Ministry of Magic got there, he was gone."

I breathed a sigh of relief, trying to slow my racing heart. But, not too far from here? Oh god. After the class was dismissed, I was frozen outside of the Gryffindor common room, my fingers trembling as they clutched my books to my chest. Ron met up with me a few moments later, Harry trailing after him with long strides.

"Come on Teresa," Ron tugged on my arm gently. "Time for Defense Against the Dark Arts."

I jumped at his touch and scanned his concerned expression with my panic-stricken one. I inhaled heavily and exhaled just as heavily.

"Right, right. Let's go then."

Ron walked in front of us and Harry walked alongside me, a gentle grip on my upper arm as he pulled me through the hallways. He literally had to pull me because my feet were not responding to my brain's command for them to move forward. A giant probe of fear pierced through my subconcious, blocking out all thoughts or ideas to help get me out of this situation. Harry sat me down in a chair and took the spot right beside me.

"What are you so scared of?" He demanded, feeling very upset that I still hadn't told him why I was avoiding Lupin.

"Me?" I forced my voice to sound steady. "Scared? What the bloody hell would I be afraid of?"

"Quit lying!" He hissed.

Lupin finally entered the room, the tattered clothing accompanying his worn looking smile.

"Good afternoon. Would you please put all of your books back into your bags? Today's lesson will be a practical one. You will only need your wands."

There were a lot of quizzical stares, but everyone did as they were told and we soon followed Lupin out of the classroom and through the corridors. Whem we reached the staffroom, he ordered everybody inside. Neville was called to the front to "assist" Lupin with the creature hidden inside the closet, but I stopped paying attention. My breathing was shaky as I watched Lupin give out instructions, his words making no sense at all to me. I could feel him watching me, even if he wasn't actually looking at me. Plotting, planning. What was he thinking? What was he going to say to me after class today? Maybe if I got lucky, he might have forgotten about it. Maybe he would leave me alone...

Yeah, and maybe Sirius would be set free and crowned king of England.

"Now I want everyone to get in a line behind Neville."

I was shoved up front by somebody I couldn't see, standing right behind Ron. I was going to have to go today, and I knew it. I knew what scared me the most, and it would give me away. _Maybe I can fool it_ I thought to myself. I concentrated on something else, a stupid little fear. Something I shouldn't be afraid about anymore. Please let it work!

"Teresa, now!"

Ron's legless spider that had been rolling on the ground instantly began to mold back into my fear. But it wasn't like I had hoped, it didn't take the form of the fear I had been trying to pretend it was. Instead it morphed itself into a live figure of Sirius, his eyes black and glaring around at all the students. I jumped back with a scream, but before the boggart could finish the fear, Lupin jumped in front of me and the figure instantly changed into a silvery orb.

"_Riddikulus!"_

The orb deflated and Lupin sent it back inside of the closet.

"So! That's it for today everybody!" Lupin said, earning complained groans. "Sorry, sorry! Go on! Pack up!"

He turned to me with the same friendly smile he had greeted everyone else, and whatever colour was left on my face was instantly drained.

"And I need to speak with you." He glanced up at Harry who was waiting for me by the door with Ron and Hermione. "Alone."

Ron and Hermione instantly left the room, but I shot Harry a pleading glance as he stood where he was. I turned away from Lupin for a moment and came up to Harry's side.

"I promise I'll tell you." I sighed, knowing that I was only biding my time.

The longer I tried to hide from him, the longer I would have to worry. It was time for me to get it over with. I pulled away from Harry and stepped back to Lupin. Harry nodded simply before exiting the room, leaving me alone with the one man I was completely terrified of at that moment. He gestured for me to follow him back to his office, through the confusing and twisting corridors back to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. I followed him up the staircase to his office, gripping onto the railing as tightly as I could with my good hand. Once inside he closed the door quietly behind him, almost as if he was sealing my doom.

"Now, where to begin." He sat down at his desk and still smiled at me. "Well, we might as well start off with the boggart today. So, Sirius Black is somebody you fear the most is it?"

"Oh yes." I steadied my voice and my breathing. "Shouldn't he be? He killed my mum."

"Ah yes, I've heard that story. He was working along with Voldemort to kill you and Harry."

"Right."

"Well, now that he is loose, how have you been feeling?"

"A bit scared." I lied smoothly.

"Well, let's go through that a bit. You know, you look awfully a lot like an old friend of mine-"

The door to Lupin's office suddenly crashed to the floor with a thunderous **BANG**, making me leap from my seat and nearly onto the table. Harry was pushing himself up onto his feet, wand in hand and with a furious expression on his face. He ran back out onto the balcony and glared down.

"RON YOU GIT! SEE WHAT YOU'VE DONE NOW?!"

"WHAT I'VE DONE!" Ron shouted back. "THAT WAS YOUR OWN FAULT!"

I ran out onto the balcony as well, pulling Harry out of the path of Ron's fire.

"Boys!" Lupin yelled, ceasing the fire. "Enough! Now I'm very surprised at the two of you! Both of you should know how to settle your problems without the use of violence! Now I want the two of you to go back to your common room immidietaly!"

"I'll take them to make sure they don't do it again!" I jumped at the opportunity.

"That would be uhh...fine I suppose. I think we were about finished. Goodnight Teresa." Lupin said.

I grabbed Harry's upper arm as tightly as I could to make it look convincing and dragged him down the stairs. With my free hand I grabbed Ron's arm and dragged him out behind me as well. Once we were out in the deserted hallways I pressed the both of them up against a wall.

"What the bloody hell were the both of you fighting about?" I demanded.

The angry glares on their faces turned into grins.

"Nothing." They said at the same time.

I let their feet hit the floor but did not allow them to leave.

"What do you mean?"

"Harry said you needed to get away from Lupin, so we came up with a plan to get you out of there."

I stared at them for a minute with a confused expression, but then a smile broke out across my face.

"We'll see you later Ron, Qudditch practice."

"Really? Wood let me on the team?!"

Harry smiled and nodded. We waved goodbye to Ron and then we began to head down towards the Qudditch pitch. Practice was going to have to be short today, damn Slytherins took over the field for the entire today and it was getting close too dark.

"Now, you owe me an explanation."

**A/N: Alright I think I lived up to my guilt of not updating for quite awhile by giving you guys a long chapter. So send in the reviews (or don't) and I'll update as soon as I can.**

**Peace**

**-Jackie-**


	8. Worry

**A/N: I have no legitiment excuse.**

I had come up with a lie to by myself some more time with Harry. He bought it for the time being, but he was smart, and I knew it. After one of the Chasers had gotten kicked off the team, I replaced her and spent most of my evenings training in Quidditch practice. I wasn't the best, but I wasn't completely hopeless either...as Wood had so kindly put it. He ran me through extra practices to help with my skills, and soon I was just as good as the girl I had replaced. As the months changed and the weather grew colder, practice became more and more brutal. On one particular day Wood called off practice just about five minutes early, just so that we could get some rest.

I walked alongside Harry back toward the school, and for the first time in awhile, we were walking in silence. I had become more and more paranoid after hearing about all these "Sirius Black sightings" all over London, and I was almost on the verge of insanity. I couldn't keep up with all of these lies I was forming, and Lupin seemed to be catching on. Dad said he was a good person, but that doesn't necessarily mean he would actually understand. When we got back to the common room, everyone was excitedly talking about the first trip to Hogsmeade, but I wasn't going to have any part in it. I turned to Harry and sighed.

"I'm going to bed."

He nodded and took a seat beside Ron on one of the couches. I made my way up the stairs and started to change into my pajamas. I crawled into my bed and looked around the room to make sure no one was around before I pulled out the photo from inside my pillow case. I looked at the photo of Dad and Mum waving with the little baby me in their arms.

"I swear Dad, you're going to make me lose my mind. How much longer do you expect me to keep this up?"

I suddenly felt something rubbing up against my leg. Startled, I shoved the photo back under my pillow and whipped around. Hermione's cat, Crookshanks, was purring and rubbing his fluffy head against the side of my leg.

"You scared me!" I hissed at the cat, reaching over to pat his head.

He dropped whatever was in his mouth and leapt off the bed, making his way back down the steps. Puzzled, I reached out and grabbed the piece of parchment that Crookshanks had left on my bed. I unfurled it several times before I finally got the message. It was in Sirius handwriting.

_Sorry about all this. Trying to help. Couldn't stay any longer._

_Please be careful. Will be trying a few things._

As my eyes hit the last letter the parchment burst into flame and vanished right in my hands. I could completely understand why he couldn't stay in Azkaban any longer, but it made me feel like he didn't trust me to do what he asked of me. Then again I was sure that wasn't the case. Whatever he was planning, it would only make me more worried. And he knew it.

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Ron and Hermione were barely speaking...again...the next day as we went through all of our classes during the day. They were being ridiculous, Ron should just let Hermione's cat eat Peter. It would make things so much eaiser for me. I wanted nothing more than to take a good hold on him and stop on him till he died, but he always hid up in the boy's bedroom, right next to Harry. Harry, meanwhile, was busy trying to get Professor McGonagall to let him go to Hogsmeade.

"I don't understand why you absolutely need to go. I'm not going either."

"What, you couldn't get any of your relatives to sign it?"

"Well my Mum's dead, and I've been living on my own for the past couple of years. So no, not really."

It was far too long to try and explain my whole family tree. All of the purebloods were connected in our "family tree", and of course, majority of them turned out to be supporter's of Voldemort. So, naturally, I strayed away from living with any of them. The most psychotic of them all had to be my "aunt" Bellatrix. Oh what a wonderful bundle of joy she was. The woman practically kissed the ground Voldemort walked upon. We Blacks were considered the rejects of the family, but, I was happily half-blood.

As soon as Transfiguration ended, Harry approached McGonagall. I followed, just for the hell of it.

"You know she's going to say no."

"Well she might not!" Harry replied angrily.

Harry waited for the entire class to leave first, then he went up to talk to her.

"Yes Potter?"

While Harry tried to spill out his argument, I stared off into space until I heard McGonagall dismiss us for our next class. As we walked out, I could see the anger clearly visible on Harry's face.

"Oh come on. You can't honestly tell me you didn't expect that?"

"Oh shut it."

"Relax. You and me can do something fun together. Maybe we can go play some Quidditch by ourselves or try and get some homework done. Just because you're stuck here doesn't mean you need to be pissy about it."

Harry sulked through the remainder of our classes together before I finally got fed up with it. I began to walk the grounds by myself, but as I walked, I couldn't help but feel slightly upset by the idea of Hogsmeade either, which confused me. I knew I wasn't going to be able to go there, but I suddenly felt like I really should care. I tried to shake off the feeling, but it still lingered.

"Good afternoon Teresa."

Lupin's voice startled me so much I actually fell over. I straightened my composure just in time for him to reach me, and I muttered profanities under my breath.

"Hello Professor." I responded in the most monotone voice I could manage.

"Chilly day isn't it?"

"I would have to agree, sir."

"I was just looking for you anyways. Were you going anywhere?"

"Actually-"

"Splendid! I'll walk with you."

I started to walk, finally realizing that there was absolutely no way for me to get out of this. I knew he knew who I was.

"I know your secret, Teresa."

Here it comes, I thought to myself. I was suddenly made very aware of how truly cold it was outside, and I shivered against the breeze.

"Which secret?" I asked, trying to keep the conversation easy.

Meanwhile I kept my eyes scanning the area for dementors. Lupin suddenly stopped walking to look at me.

"I knew it from the day I saw you. I know you're Sirius' daughter."

My breath caught in my throat, but after a moment I was able to let it out very slowly and raggedly.

"How'd you find out?"

"I was there the day you were born. I think I can recognize my once best friend's daughter even once she's grown up. You look a lot like him you know. But that's not what I'm here to discuss with you."

I waited somewhat impatiently for him to continue, at the same time looking for an escape route.

"I know, you must've thought I'd rat you out to someone and you'd be taken out of here. But, in all honestly, just because your father turned out to cause a huge problem doesn't mean you really had anything to do with it. In other words, I don't think you had anything to do with your father's escape from Azkaban."

"That's good, because I really didn't."

"But then that does leave me to wonder. What' the real story behind all of this? I need you to be honest with me."

I thought long and hard about what he was exactly saying to me. He was actually offering to listen to my side of the story, I would be able to get the truth out. But wait! He could be lying. This could be all some sort of trick of his. I shook my head and sighed.

"I wouldn't know how to begin to explain it to you even if I could."

"It's imperative that you explain it to me." Lupin wasn't going to let me leave, and I knew it.

"Maybe once I get a better grip on what's happening, maybe then I could better explain it to you. I just need time to think about this."

Without his permission I walked back toward the castle, and I could feel him staring at me as I walked away. He wouldn't tell anyone. Not unless he didn't want answers from me. As I continued to walk I passed the whomping willow, and from beneath the base I saw him. The glowing yellow eyes of the dog frightened me at first, but it was his that same thing that also relaxed me. At least I knew he'd be safe. I continued to walk as if I hadn't seen him.

-----------------------------------------------------------

It was finally Halloween morning, and I greeted Harry downstairs by pouncing on top of him and knocking him to the ground.

"Good morning cranky!" I shouted as I rolled off of him.

He muttered profanities under his breath and got up, and we walked downstairs to breakfast. Soon after everyone departed, Ron and Hermione promising to bring back as many sweets as they possibly could. After leaving, I tugged on Harry's arm.

"Come on! Let's do something FUN!"

"Like what?" He grumbled. "Go study in the library?"

"You mistake me for Hermione. Come on. Humor me."

Harry rolled his eyes and continued walking. I followed him all the way up to the Owlery, where we ran into, of course, Lupin.

"I'll see you later Harry." I said quietly and made my way past Lupin.

I slid down the banister, ignoring Filch's snide comments for me to get down. As I roamed the hallways, I suddenly discovered Ginny Weasley sitting in one of the corridors, staring out one of the windows.

"It's Ginny, isn't it?" I said as I stood next to her.

"Yeah, that's me. You're Teresa aren't you? Ron and Harry's friend?"

"That's right."

"Oh right, you were with me in the train compartment."

"Yep. So, Harry's ditched me to talk with a teacher, so what would you say to a little Quidditch practice?"

"I haven't played much. Only in the yard with my brothers."

"That's alright, I haven't played much either."

I spent the rest of the day playing Quidditch with Ginny, giving her a few pointers on what she should or shouldn't be doing. We finally went back to the castle around the time of dinner, and went our separate ways in the Great Hall. I found Ron, Hermione, and Harry all seated and stuffing their faces, and I proceeded to join them. Ron pushed a bag of candy across the table to me without looking up as he shoveled food into his mouth. I saved enough room for candy as we walked back up to the common room together after being completely satisifed. The chaos in front of the common room door however, made me feel naseous.

"Nasty temper he's got, that Sirius Black."

The fat lady's portrait had been torn from the wall. God damn it Dad! What was he doing inside the castle? It was one thing to linger around the castle, it was a completely different thing to enter and try to break in after Peter yourself.

The question was though, was he still inside?

We were all ushered into the Great Hall once again, every single student from every House. The tables were pushed aside and Dumbledore conjured up hundreds of squishy purple sleeping bags for everyone. The Hall was instantly abuzz with loud conversation, and I had to focus on relaxing myself. He wouldn't still be IN the castle. Dad wasn't stupid enough to stick around when there would be hundreds of people looking for him.

"Do you think Black's still in the castle?" Hermione whispered after we had settled down in a separate corner.

"Dumbledore obviously thinks he might be." Ron added.

"I think that would be dumb." I contributed to the conversation. "Why would he stay inside the castle? He would obviously realize that there would be teachers looking for him."

"You don't sound afraid at all." Hermione pointed out. "Considering that he's after both of you."

She gestured to me and Harry using her index and pinky finger.

"Why should I be worried?" I responded. "It's not like he's still in the castle."

"Yeah, but he's still lingering." Ron said.

"THE LIGHTS ARE GOING OUT NOW!" Percy Weasley suddenly shouted. "I WANT EVERYONE IN THEIR SLEEPING BAGS AND NO MORE TALKING!"

The candles around the room went out at the same time, and the only light was illuminating off of the ghosts that were floating around the room. It wasn't until several hours later, once everyone was asleep, that I finally noticed that Harry was still awake. I reached over and tapped his shoulder, pressing a finger to my lips.

"Are you alright?" I asked in the most quiet voice I could manage.

The doors suddenly opened again, and Dumbledore entered to check in on everyone. Snape, Percy, and Dumbledore all exchanged words I could barely make out, but it had something to do with appointing a certain member of the staff to do something, and talking about how Sirius could've possibly gotten in. Once they were gone I looked back at Harry's eyes, and he seemed to be lost in thought.

"I wonder what that was all about." I whispered.

Harry shrugged his shoulders.

**A/N: I'll try to update again soon.**

**-Jackie-**


	9. The Match

Of course the next day all anyone could talk about was Sirius. Black this and Black that and so on. The Fat Lady had been replaced by Sir Cadogan because no other portrait would take the Fat Lady's place. To put a topper on EVERYTHING that had been going on, Professor McGonagall had decided that both Harry and I needed to be followed by a teacher at all times, and that our Quidditch practices had to be supervised by Madam Hooch. She was considering canceling practices completely in the evenings, until both Harry and I pointed out that the first game was on Saturday. Meanwhile I spent the rest of my time, when I wasn't practicing or getting swamped down by homework, worrying about whether or not anyone would discover Sirius' hiding place. I knew that it was unlikely, nobody would dare go near the Whomping Willow, but it still nudged at the back of my subconscious.

Lupin was absent one day from class, and of course Snape had to take over. Instead of doing the lesson we were supposed to, Snape had us learning about werewolves. I paid absolutely no attention in class, and instead fiddled with a piece of parchment, trying to see how many times I could fold it before it was too small to fold anymore.

That is, until, I heard Hermione trying to desperately answer Snape's question and him calling her an insufferable know-it-all. I saw how red Hermione's face got and how slowly her hand lowered. For the rest of the class everyone glared angrily at Snape and barely paid attention to his instructions. He gave out the homework and gave Ron detention for speaking out of turn, then excused us with a homework assignment so large we'd have to spend the entire weekend working on it. I put my arm around Hermione's shoulder as we exited the classroom, and said a spell that lit the bottom of Snape's cloak on fire.

---------------------------------------------------

The following day was the Quidditch match, and of course it was the worst possible conditions for a game. Not only was it raining, but it was abosolutely freezing outside, and the winds were extremely high. We waitied inside for Wood's pre-game pep talk, but it never came. Instead, I concentrated on how Wood seemed to be terrified. He wanted to win this game so bad, and that is exactly what we had to do for him, despite the weather. The wind was so powerful that walking out onto the field I was nearly knocked over. Finally, we all mounted our broomsticks and the game had started. It was nearly impossible to see the quaffle in any direction, and I was stumbling all over the place as I tried to catch the quaffle every time it was thrown in my direction. I noticed Harry nearly fall of his broom twice after a bludger came flying in his direction, and finally Wood called for a time out.

Hermione adjusted Harry's glasses so they would repel water, and then the game was resumed. I finally seized hold of the quaffle and shot back towards the goal, only to have a bludger knocked in my direction. I rolled out of the way on my broomstick just in time and then passed the quaffle to Katie Bell. That was when I saw him. Sirius in his dog form, sitting at the very base of the field, out in the bushes, watching the game. Then, he'd vanished. I shot after Katie to try and help her out, and that was when I heard screaming in my ears. Looking around, a hundred death eaters had suddenly come onto the field, and my head was throbbing with my mother's piercing cries that ran through my ears. But it wasn't just that. The screaming wasn't just coming from my own head.

It was coming from the stands.

That's when I saw Harry falling from the sky and hurdling towards the ground. I immidietaly abandoned my position and shot off toward the ground, trying to intercept Harry before he hit the ground.

I growled under my breath and urged the broom on further until finally my arm latched onto Harry's wrist, just inches before he hit the ground. I pulled him onto my broom and tried to land.

The broom couldn't handle the added weight, and it shifted back and forth as it tried to lower itself to the ground. Finally the two of us were launched off of the broom and hit the grass. I heard a mixture of cheering and screaming coming from every direction, as I finally realized that Diggory had caught the snitch. Son of a bitch. I sat on the ground with Harry in my lap until Dumbledore ran onto the field, casting a spell that sent the Dementors fleeing off the field. The screaming in my head finally subsided and I finally stood up, unconcious Harry being supported up with his arm around my neck.

The game was called and I started to make my way toward the castle, with all the teachers bustling behind me and people shouting. Ron came up beside me not moments later and took Harry's other arm and wrapped it around his neck to help with the weight. By the time we were up at the hospital wing, Madam Pomfrey had a bed set up for Harry. Ron and I set him down on the bed and waited by his side. Hermione came in slowly, holding the shattered remains of Harry's broom.

"Damn. God damn it." I cursed, running a hand through my soaked hair.

Everyone was absolutely filthy and soaked, but nobody left Harry's side, all worried that he was seriously injured.

"That was a brilliant catch Teresa." George complimented me, putting his arm around my shoulder.

I laughed coldly.

"Lucky is what it was. I just saw him falling so I went after him."

"But you caught him just before he hit the ground!" Fred continued.

"It was absolutely amazing!"

"I thought he was dead for sure!"

Harry's eyes suddenly shot open and he stared around at all of us, as though we were ghosts.

"How are you?" Several of us asked at once.

"What happened?" Harry asked in response.

"You fell off," Fred answered. "Must've been-what-fifty feet?"

"We thought you'd died!" Alicia broke in.

"Teresa caught you before you fell!"

"The MATCH though!" Harry shouted. "We didn't...lose...did we?"

"Diggory caught the snitch right as you fell." I elaborated. "He tried to call it off. Wanted a rematch. But they won fair and square, even Wood admits it."

"Where is he now?" Harry demanded.

"Still in the showers." George answered.

"We think he's trying to drown himself." Fred added.

Finally the team left to give Harry some rest, and Ron and Hermione filled him in on the rest of what had happened, including Dumbledore's fury at the dementors. Then, they showed him the remains of his Nimbus 2000. Harry's face couldn't have gotten any paler, and he looked absolutely sick to his stomach. Soon after, Ron and Hermione left, and Harry finally laid back in his bed, the Nimbus remains next to him. I suddenly realized that I was holding Harry's hand, squeezing it as hard as I could manage. Harry followed my eyes as well and propped himself up on his elbows. I drew my hand away quickly and felt the blood rush to my frozen cheeks.

"Sorry. Didn't realize I still had a hold on your hand. Instinct, you know?"

"Yeah." Harry nodded in agreement. "Of course."

--------------------------------------------------------

Harry was clearly devastated from the loss of his broom, as he kept it by his beside the entire weekend he was kept in Madam Pomfrey's care. I encouraged Ginny to go and see Harry, because I could clearly read the affections she had for him on her face every time I mentioned his name.

"Well, he saved me." Ginny tried to defend herself as she made his card. "It's only natural that I should feel...gratitude toward him."

"Ginny, I'll guarantee you this, what you're feeling right now isn't gratitude."

Her face turned a bright red again and she made her way over to the hospital wing. It wasn't until Sunday afternoon that I was finally was able to go back over to the hospital wing and spend a little time talking to him. I could tell from his face that something was bothering him, and it clearly wasn't just the broom. I made sure the room was empty before I spoke to him.

"There's something else, isn't there Harry?"

He nodded and looked back at the bowl of fruit next to his bed.

"I saw the grim."

"You mean the omen that Professor Trelawney said meant that you are in serious peril or something?"

"Yeah, that one."

"Harry, I need you to be honest with me, are you truly afraid that you are going to die?"

"Well I would obviously die eventually..."

"That's not what I meant and you know it."

Harry stopped talking and stared up at the ceiling.

"It's not just Black, it's the dementors as well. Why is it I pass out every time they're around?"

"Harry, you have all these horrible experiences in your life that they can feed on, that's why you pass out. But you know, whenever they're around, I can hear my mother. She's screaming in my ears, and it tears my heart out. All I can hear is her petrifying screams..."

"I can hear my mother too." Harry cut in, propping himself up on his elbows.

"Just trust me Harry. The dementors aren't something to worry about. And as far as Sirius Black goes..." I paused. "Well, at least it's something that we have to deal with together."

"I just don't understand." Harry continued. "Why does Black want to kill you so much? I mean, your mum's dead, your Dad's dead, what's the story there?"

"Look," I started honestly. "The theory behind it is, Sirius Black was working for Voldemort, and ordered them to kill my family. Why? Nobody has the slightest clue. What we do know is, it has something to do with you, because it was the same night as when Voldemort tried to kill you."

"Has something to do with me?" Harry was clearly confused. "But what?"

"If I knew, don't you think I would tell you?"

And to this day, I still don't have a clue. The idea was that Voldemort was punishing Sirius for...allegedly, betraying him. But that didn't make sense, because Sirius wasn't working for Voldemort at all. There had to be something else. From what I understood, Sirius had been the Potter's secret-keeper. But once learning that Voldemort was after them, he had Peter be their secret-keeper, so that way Voldemort would come after Sirius for information (once he had abandoned me and my mother of course). But as it turns out, Peter was the one feeding Voldemort information. Voldemort wanted me dead as payback to my father. Or at least, this was how it was explained to me. Voldemort had come after me for some other reason...it couldn't have just been about my father. Something had happened...

There could always be more to the situation, but how was I to know? Harry laid back against his pillows and exhaled heavily. I did too. I could see how all of this was eating at him, and to be honest, it hurt to see it.

"Harry, don't worry about any of this, alright? I promise it'll work out."

"How can you promise that?" He asked, for the first time sitting up in bed and looking at me with those concerned green eyes of his.

"Because I'm sure it will. I think there are a lot more important things you could be worrying about right now other than some crazy man."

"But he's trying to kill me." Harry pointed out.

"Voldemort apparently wants me dead too." I answered, leaning back in my chair. "You don't see me worrying about it."

Harry looked as though he wanted to argue more, but he finally just sighed and laid back down. Besides, the one thing he should be worrying about was the rat that was sleeping in the bed next to him. But I couldn't tell him that.


End file.
